So, what went wrong then this season for Toronto FC? Maybe a better question is what didn’t.

A nearly comical run of injuries combined with a massive amount of travel (including a few trips to Mexico) and a lack of mental sharpness all added up to the worst TFC campaign in years (and possibly the worst defensive one ever, depending on how the final three matches go) and will lead to an off-season filled with quite a bit of soul-searching.

Toronto was officially eliminated from the playoff race on Saturday by Vancouver, but still has to travel to Washington and Montreal later this month.

After the game, head coach Greg Vanney said this had all been building for some time now.

“It’s not like it’s an overnight thing,” Vanney said, and he was right.

It was obvious back in April that something was up. The 2017 powerhouse that had run roughshod over the rest of the league was shutout in consecutive matches to start the campaign. Before long the Reds held a 2-6-1 record. The players, particularly some crucial, highly-paid ones, started going down like flies and the rest of the roster could not fill in adequately.

Toronto has won consecutive matches only once all year and only twice has been unbeaten in three straight. Simply put, not nearly good enough, regardless of the excuses.

“It’s a mix between frustration anger and embarrassment. It’s hard to put into words,” Vanney said, adding the club left too many points on the table. TFC has only rallied to win a game once after surrendering the opening goal 17 times in 31 games, including an inexcusable early Vancouver strike on Saturday.

“We’ve played so much time playing football trying to come back in games and it costs a lot of energy mentally and physically to play down early on in big games,” said captain Michael Bradley.

“This is a league that is challenging because if you lose momentum, you lose a little bit of connection, a little bit of confidence, a little bit of trust, it can be punishing if you get the wrong side of momentum and we never got any momentum going in the regular season,” Vanney said.

“It was very rare for us to put two wins together or three wins together and you have to do that, you have to go on little runs on the MLS season to stay in the race and to give yourself a chance and we never really get that consistency.”

ODD SCRUM

We expected Jozy Altidore to provide an eloquent obituary on the 2018 campaign. What we didn’t anticipate was his segue into his own future. The forward, one of three Toronto designated players with a year remaining on their contracts, is believed to have the most resale value and reports had teams in France and Italy sniffing around on Altidore this summer (plus Mexican sides have repeatedly seen the big man flourish against them in big matches).

If TFC wants to pare down its league-high salary, add a cheaper third designated player and make a few million from a sale, Altidore could go and he appears to be aware of that scenario.

“I’ve tried to show every night I’ve stepped on this field since 2015 when I arrived to give everything I could. I try to play for the fans, my family, for everyone that’s followed this club from Day 1 and I’ve done what I could at this point,” Altidore said.

“If my future isn’t here then like I said before, it’s been nothing but a pleasure and I thank all the fans for their support throughout the years and all the best in the future.”

Altidore made it clear that he believes the club could rally and dominate again in 2019 if given the chance.

PRESERVATION PLAN

Though TFC won’t be in the post-season after the first three appearances in franchise history, the final game of the year could be meaningful.

That’s because Atlanta United beat New England 2-1 last week to get to 66 points with two matches remaining. TFC set the MLS mark for points with 69 last year and now might see it fall just 365 days later. Atlanta has already matched Toronto’s 20 victories. Atlanta hosts a very poor Chicago Fire side in its penultimate game before (of course) heading to BMO Field potentially prepared to set a new mark for excellence.

After Saturday’s results, preserving at least a share of its points record is now all Toronto FC has left to play for, aside from many players looking to make positive impressions with management and potentially other clubs.

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.